How can a picture of flowers make you see games differently?
How can a picture of flowers make you see games differently?
How can a picture of flowers make you see games differently?
By Jay Castello
February 8, 2024
Summary
The collective is a group of academics and creatives making thought-provoking art by exploring the seams of AAA video games.
Firstly, it explores how games so often reproduce an uncritical, capitalist, imperialist political perspective.
"We enjoy playing games a lot," says Klengel.
"Playing is important to us. And we all share great amazement for video games. [They] make us very happy. But games make us very angry as well." The trio laughs as he says it.
They talked about how to "Use games as a matter of education," he says, but also "What would actually be fun to do with them." The key to both of these things was "Counterplay" - using the game in unintended ways.
In one of the simplest but most effective Total Refusal pieces, three images from different war games show flowers, unmoving in the face of massive explosions.
"We want to empower people to build up communities within the social space of video games and therefore radicalise, and express themselves politically within these social spaces."
Reference
Castello, J. (2024, February 8). How can a picture of flowers make you see games differently? Eurogamer.net. https://www.eurogamer.net/how-can-a-picture-of-flowers-make-you-see-games-differently